J.D. Souther – Home By Dawn (1984) Review | Love Songs and Lost Dreams
Kronomyth 4.0: Only the lonely remain.
Everly few years a new face appears bearing the promise of a rockabilly revival: Dave Edmunds, Joe Ely, The Stray Cats, Marshall Crenshaw. The revivals were always short lived and the stars faded back into the black canvas of night, only for a new star to start the process all over again. J.D. Souther wasn’t exactly a fresh face, but Warner Bros. apparently felt he needed a fresh start, which brings us to Home By Dawn. Souther’s last album of the 80s recasts the singer/songwriter as something of a rockabilly revivalist, with songs that recall Roy Orbison and Marshall Crenshaw more than the country-rock of Eagles, Souther’s previous perch. It’s a solid record and, had Souther cultivated an audience for this sort of thing, might have charted respectably. Unfortunately, Souther wasn’t well known outside of country-rock circles and the album died a quiet death, burying with it a very good single, Go Ahead and Rain. I don’t want to strike too elegiac a tone here; Souther was given a national platform most musicians would kill for and left behind a respectable body of work. I might even give this album the nod as the best-sung record to bear his name. Souther was an underrated singer who here gets the better of Don Henley and Timothy Schmit (on Bad News Travels Fast) and Linda Ronstadt (on Say You Will). Those cameos bring the Souther story full circle as an artist who’s better known for the songs he didn’t sing. At its best, Home By Dawn makes me wish that Souther, Hillman and Furay would return as a retro rockabilly act in the vein of the Traveling Wilburys. But an encore wasn’t in the stars and Souther didn’t release another album for the rest of the century.
The Product
A1. Home By Dawn (2:48)
A2. Go Ahead and Rain (3:29)
A3. Say You Will (J.D. Souther/Danny Kortchmar) (2:50)
A4. I’ll Take Care of You (2:32)
A5. All for You (3:28)
B1. Night (J.D. Souther/Waddy Wachtel) (3:25)
B2. Don’t Know What I’m Gonna Do (2:08)
B3. Bad News Travels Fast (5:50)
B4. All I Want (5:58)
All songs written by J.D. Souther unless noted.
The Players
John David Souther (vocals, drums, guitars, piano), David Hungate (bass), Josh Leo (guitar), Randy McCormick, Billy Walker (guitar) with Steve Goldstein (keyboards on A2), Don Henley (background vocals on A1/B3), Vince Melamed (keyboards on A1/A5), Linda Ronstadt (vocals on A3), Timothy B. Schmit (background vocals on B3), Waddy Wachtel (guitar on A1/B1). Produced by David Malloy.
The Plastic
Released on elpee and cassette in 1984 in the US (Warner Bros., 25081-1/4) and Japan (Warner, P-11477) with lyrics innersleeve.
- Re-issued on compact disc in the US (Wounded Bird, WOU 5081).
